Bhubaneswar: A separate train to Bhubaneswar will chug out of Junagarh on Saturday, fulfilling a longstanding demand of Kalahandi denizens in Odisha.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to flag off the 18438 Bhubaneswar-Junagarh Road Express and the Odia script in unreserved train tickets from East Coast Railway (ECoR) Headquarters via video conferencing on Saturday. Kalahandi MP Basanta Panda will remain present at Junagarh railway station, ECoR sources said.
On August 16, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had approved a proposal to run Hirakhand Express as two separate trains—18437/18438 Bhubaneswar-Junagarh Road Express & 18447/18448 Bhubaneswar-Jagdalpur Hirakhand Express.
The train will now leave Junagarh at 4.30 pm everyday and reach Bhubaneswar at 7.30 the following morning. Similarly, the departure timing from Bhubaneswar is 10.35 pm and it will reach Junagarh at 10.30 am, the sources said.